Bill collectors

[edandcolleen1995]

good luck with it all

 

[marlynnp]

LOL that is great!!! Thanks everyone for your advice. Please tell everyone you know never ever take out an installment loan through a loan shark. I won't after this. I have learned my lesson

So, you sign for a loan. Take their money. And when you don't pay it back within the terms you agreed upon, they are the bad guys????

and 3 weeks not paying a loan shark would have netted you at least one broken kneecap from cousin Luigi by now

 

[marlynnp]

oh, and if you actually talk to them and try to make alternate arrangements instead of blowing them off, they won't call constantly.

 

[Allison]

Yes, it is legal. It is also legal for you to call them. Give it a try. Take the name and contact information of someone to call back. Call them, tell them that you want to work out payment arrangements, then put them on hold - forever. Then call back and do it again. And again. Line up the excuses for putting them on hold. Don't stop, but never admit what you are doing. You are just trying to work out payment arrangements. It is just as legal...

I must be missing something. What would the point of such an act be?

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

I must be missing something. What would the point of such an act be?

Seriously? If I have to explain it...

 

[Allison]

Seriously? If I have to explain it...

Yes, seriously.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

Yes, seriously.

Like I said, if I have to explain it...

 

[Allison]

oh, and if you actually talk to them and try to make alternate arrangements instead of blowing them off, they won't call constantly.

What an excellent suggestion that's actually useful. Communicating with the person you owe money to would be a great idea and would hopefully stop the phone calls.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

A loan shark isn't going to follow fair debt collection practices. The best thing is to pick up some extra work or sell some items and pay them back, then never borrow from them again.

 

[kirbsam]

quit ignoring them, and let them know that you are trying to pay it. if you are not even trying to pay it or are ignoring them, then they should hound you and hound you.

 

[luvmy3]

Have you spoken to them directly to make arrangements to pay and they keep calling you back, or are you ignoring their calls? If its the latter I have to side with them, you borrowed money and agreed to pay them back, they should be calling you daily if its 3 weeks late and you haven't made an attempt to make any kind of payment. If you have spoken to them and worked out something that they agreed upon and they are continuing to call you then you should file a complaint.

 

[maelstrom]

SereneOne pretty much gave you the whole shebang.

Keep in mind that a lot of debt collection agencies are extremely shady and *will* violate the rules. Keep records of every phone call and piece of mail.

 

[happygirl]

quit ignoring them, and let them know that you are trying to pay it. if you are not even trying to pay it or are ignoring them, then they should hound you and hound you.

LOL you must be a bill collector.

 

[Mom2Ashli]

Just talk to them and make other arrangements to try and pay your loan. You owe them the money and you are not paying it back. Of course they are going to call you and continue to call you until you make arrangements to return their money.

 

[MouseLover]

As someone who has been in your shoes.........

Yes, they can call you daily. I'm not sure about 4x daily though -- that might be bordering on harrassment.

My suggestion: Answer the phone, tell them when they can expect payment, and how much you can pay. Tell them you will remain in contact with them until resolved. You may find it easier (stress-level-wise) to call them daily at 8am & get it over with, and not have to sit around and cringe when the phone rings all day.

Check out: www.creditboards.com for useful information about debt collectors, credit issues, etc.

Good luck! I hope things get better for you quickly.

 

[jen0610]

Also remember a great number of collection agencies, as well as large corporate business use a receivables/collections program called Debt Master or a similar system.

This system, once an collector is logged in, it pulls a set number of phone number to dial. The computer will dial all those number. Once, one of those numbers answers, it gives the "live call" to the agent and the rest will either "drop off" or some have it set where it will continue to try dialing and give a canned recorded message once the phone is answer or goes to voicemail/answering machine.

Now....here is the kicker, depending on how they have their system set up, you could be getting multipule calls every day (some just minutes apart), even receiving multipule recorded messages, but your account within their system will not updated, until they actually speak with someone. Even when you speak with someone, some will tell you that, that until the debt is brought current, ie the funds are received, they have a right to call you multipule times a day. Even if you set up a payment schedule with them. Double check the info SereneOne posted. Weather this is "legal" or not, I don't know. It has been a long time since I have seen the actual guidlines "collections" are suppose to adhire to.

I know it is weird, but I LOVE collections - CORPORATE COLLECTIONS. I have done this for years. There isn't enough money in this world that I could be paid, to touch PERSONAL COLLECTIONS. What I can and can not do or say in Corporate collections is a world apart from the personal collections. I have no problem talking to the head of payables for Ericsson, Hewlett-Packard, or Nortel. But I will not call and tell John Doe that I don't care that he's laid off or on short term, show me the money. I just can't do that type of collections.

 

[pearlieq]

Agreed - it is called retribution...

Retribution for what, exactly? Someone's decision to loan you money and your failure to pay it back as agreed? Yeah, they should totally be punished for that!

Unbelieveable...

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

Retribution for what, exactly? Someone's decision to loan you money and your failure to pay it back as agreed? Yeah, they should totally be punished for that!

Which is why I said that if I have to explain it... Those who don't get it never will. No amount of explaining will help. So just keep judging. You do it well...

 

[momrek06]

Ohhh...I think these collection agencies are horrific. I just moved to CA. I ordered my telephone service and in my area it is with COX. They actually let me pick a phone number. I picked a great number, as I wanted allot of repeat numbers...makes it easy to remember.
Anyway, about 1 week into us having the new number IT STARTED. The lady that had this number before has to be in allot of trouble...........the collection agencies started calling and calling and calling....I answer, "NO I am not JaneDoe"....and the calls were morning, noon and night.
I called COX explained it all to them. I had all their phone numbers from my caller id. Cox said they would put a block on these calls. It was quiet for a long time and NOW it is starting all over again. They are asking for the same lady........

OP, I hope things work out for you.

 

[pearlieq]

Which is why I said that if I have to explain it... Those who don't get it never will. No amount of explaining will help. So just keep judging. You do it well...

No problem. It's dishonorable behavior and I'm more than happy to judge it. I'm sleeping fine tonight on this one...

There is no possible legitimate explantion for "I borrowed money, couldn't pay it back. So then I decided to villify, blame, and harass the collectors instead of being an adult and working out a repayment plan."

To the OP, I hope you can get the situation sorted out soon.